The Night Mail

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

As long as you don't mention my digital incompetence, I can let all the other comments ride.

 

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Couldn't you keep the room you already occupy, and annex the west wing for another modelling project.

 

After all, possession is 9/10ths of the law.

 

I can't help thinking about 9/10ths now.....

[SM42]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Couldn't you keep the room you already occupy, and annex the west wing for another modelling project.

 

After all, possession is 9/10ths of the law.

 

Er,  no. 

 

It's not a good idea to get on the wrong side of Mrs SM42, especially as I still have to clear out the Scared Husband's Emergency Domicile 

 

Andy

[Canal Digger]

 

41 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Er,  no. 

 

It's not a good idea to get on the wrong side of Mrs SM42, especially as I still have to clear out the Scared Husband's Emergency Domicile 

 

Andy

Clarification please, is the husband or the domicile 'scared'?

 

Even worse, my brain read 'scared' - as in frightened or having a scar

 

[PhilJ W]

10 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

 

Clarification please, is the husband or the domicile 'scared'?

 

Even worse, my brain read 'scared' - as in frightened or having a scar

 

Scared Husbands Emergency Domicile.

Edited October 26, 2023 by PhilJ W

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

As long as you don't mention my digital incompetence, I can let all the other comments ride.

 

Does that include not mentioning you're no longer able to count to ten?

 

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

Don't give her ideas. 

 

The move to the West wing will give me some welcome modelling space, but on the downside, means the small bedroom that  I currently occupy will be up for residential  redevelopment.  

 

Andy

 

Just how big is this legendary West Wing?

[Oldddudders]

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

Just how big is this legendary West Wing?

Big enough to warrant a Wing Commander?

[SM42]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Does that include not mentioning you're no longer able to count to ten?

 

 

Just how big is this legendary West Wing?

 

Bigger than the room I have now,  but not nearly big enough for all the grand layout plans I have. 

 

Got to start thinking a little smaller *

 

Andy

 

* and I don't mean n gauge. 

Good God man I've come down to H0 already

Edited October 26, 2023 by SM42

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Does that include not mentioning you're no longer able to count to ten?

 

 

Just how big is this legendary West Wing?

However he can ask for the correct platform at Kings Cross by just holding his hands up. 

 

Jamie

Edited October 26, 2023 by jamie92208

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

Could I pick your respective brains: has anyone got any ideas about building six wheel wagon chassis? To narrow this down a bit, I'm thinking about scratchbuilding a six wheel milk (or other liquids...) tanker in 32mm gauge (SM32 rather than coarse standard O Gauge but I presume similar principles might apply) and am wondering about how to arrange the axles. I know we have a garden railway section on here but by posting there, I might miss the wisdom of O Gaugers. And I have a suspicion this is probably a more general engineering question than a scale/gauge specific one. I've had a look around here and more generally online but can't see much, there's a blog post by the swansea railway modellers group which includes a photo of an old Hornby chassis but it's not clear enough for me to work out the arrangements for the centre axle and the vehicle's a bit longer than I was thinking of anyway.

 

I don't know if I need swivelling axles or ones which can travel laterally as well/instead - or whether I can get away with allowing some slack in the fit of fixed axles. The minimum radius, if possible, would be 965mm so it can negotiate Peco's small radius points - I'm sure the mediums (1524mm) would be preferable but I'm not sure if there would be space in the 'fiddle yard' even if there was out in the scenic bit. Any pointers? 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

However he can ask for the correct platform at Kings Cross by just holding his hands up. 

 

Jamie

Is that in Roman Numerals because he'll have problems as he's only got 9 and three quarters.

[MrWolf]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

Is that in Roman Numerals because he'll have problems as he's only got 9 and three quarters.

 

He'll be catching the train to Hogwarts then?

[polybear]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

Afternoon all,

 

Could I pick your respective brains: has anyone got any ideas about building six wheel wagon chassis? To narrow this down a bit, I'm thinking about scratchbuilding a six wheel milk (or other liquids...) tanker in 32mm gauge (SM32 rather than coarse standard O Gauge but I presume similar principles might apply) and am wondering about how to arrange the axles. I know we have a garden railway section on here but by posting there, I might miss the wisdom of O Gaugers. And I have a suspicion this is probably a more general engineering question than a scale/gauge specific one. I've had a look around here and more generally online but can't see much, there's a blog post by the swansea railway modellers group which includes a photo of an old Hornby chassis but it's not clear enough for me to work out the arrangements for the centre axle and the vehicle's a bit longer than I was thinking of anyway.

 

I don't know if I need swivelling axles or ones which can travel laterally as well/instead - or whether I can get away with allowing some slack in the fit of fixed axles. The minimum radius, if possible, would be 965mm so it can negotiate Peco's small radius points - I'm sure the mediums (1524mm) would be preferable but I'm not sure if there would be space in the 'fiddle yard' even if there was out in the scenic bit. Any pointers? 

 

The wisdom of very clever people such as Tony Wright when building tenders suggests that filing the axle bearing slot upwards just a minute amount is enough to avoid any risk of "see-sawing" on the centre axle - I see no reason why that shouldn't also be the case for wagons.  Of course if you intend to introduce springing then this should take care of such issues.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

Afternoon all,

 

Could I pick your respective brains: has anyone got any ideas about building six wheel wagon chassis? To narrow this down a bit, I'm thinking about scratchbuilding a six wheel milk (or other liquids...) tanker in 32mm gauge (SM32 rather than coarse standard O Gauge but I presume similar principles might apply) and am wondering about how to arrange the axles. I know we have a garden railway section on here but by posting there, I might miss the wisdom of O Gaugers. And I have a suspicion this is probably a more general engineering question than a scale/gauge specific one. I've had a look around here and more generally online but can't see much, there's a blog post by the swansea railway modellers group which includes a photo of an old Hornby chassis but it's not clear enough for me to work out the arrangements for the centre axle and the vehicle's a bit longer than I was thinking of anyway.

 

I don't know if I need swivelling axles or ones which can travel laterally as well/instead - or whether I can get away with allowing some slack in the fit of fixed axles. The minimum radius, if possible, would be 965mm so it can negotiate Peco's small radius points - I'm sure the mediums (1524mm) would be preferable but I'm not sure if there would be space in the 'fiddle yard' even if there was out in the scenic bit. Any pointers? 

I'd fix one of the end axles and then make a 'bogie' for the other pair so they can pivot independently under the wagon.

 

If you make the solebars slightly further apart than normal for 16 mm, and you make all the wheel bearings inside bearings, the springs and axle journal castings become cosmetic.  (Trim the axles down so they look like regular steam loco bogie wheels.)  The fixed wheelset can have a limited amount of float, but the 'bogie' and inside bearings for the other two axles will  allow quite quite a bit of movement.

 

Although in 16 mm you ought to be able to manage Cleminson style suspension as shown in the 4 mm scale version:

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[Mike Bellamy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Although in 16 mm you ought to be able to manage Cleminson style suspension as shown in the 4 mm scale version:

 

 

 

 

There was a long discussion back in 2010 about Cleminson where it was agreed that the Brassmasters version wasn't a true Cleminson design but for many modellers was good enough. What is missing is the way in which the separate axles are linked together, best illustrated in the model sold by Phil Traxson (Port Wynnstay Models) in the link below.

 

https://ngtrains.com/shop/product/pw131-cleminson-6-wheel-1st-2nd-class-saloon-coach/

 

Link to archived RMweb discussion

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/6484-cleminson-chassis-drawing/

 

Hope that helps

 

[Happy Hippo]

Having parted company with the BMW earlier today, I've spent some of the afternoon re-acquainting myself with using the indicators, following lane markings, keeping to under the speed restrictions and not having the ghetto blaster on full with the windows down.

 

Peace has now descended on this part of Telfland with our daughter and grandchildren having left to return to the joys of Reading (They got back ok).

 

Of course it's like a commercial laundry here at the moment with sheets and towels etc all getting processed through the washing machine and dryer.

[Tony_S]

27 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Having parted company with the BMW earlier today, I've spent some of the afternoon re-acquainting myself with using the indicators, following lane markings, keeping to under the speed restrictions and not having the ghetto blaster on full with the windows down.

So, how is the new Tesla?

[BoD]

….  on fire.

[MrWolf]

I have an EV, only cost a tenner to buy and nothing to run.

 

Unlikely to catch fire or deprecate in value too.🤪

 

[Oldddudders]

28 minutes ago, BoD said:

….  on fire.

I believe Tesla-owners tend to refer to 'burning up the miles'. 

[The White Rabbit]

16 minutes ago, BoD said:

….  on fire.

 

Ah, the perils of the designer taking his brief too literally when the boss said, "I want this car to set the world on fire"... 

 

Perhaps I should make it a pair of wagons, one as a water tanker/fire truck and one as a lowmac with a car load? 

 

Thanks to those who've replied so far. It's a 'slow burn' project, so any further thoughts and pointers welcome. That RMW thread re Cleminsons was the sort of thing I was looking for earlier but didn't find. Probably using the wrong search terms. Thankyou @Mike Bellamy. 

 

I have a W&L RTR brakevan and a couple of old kits/scratchbuilt open wagons already to give me a sense of scale. One of the latter is 'sprung' as I think @polybear has in mind, using long vertical axle bearing slots and what looks like a DIY springing arrangement using piano wire. I think it's going to be build a tuning fork track on an offcut of timber board and then do some experimenting to see what works best. I'm not worried about keeping to any particular style, just getting something which doesn't derail on curves/points. Plenty of ideas from @Happy Hippo to try, thanks. I reckon at least one of those should work for me. 

[Happy Hippo]

26 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

So, how is the new Tesla?

My daughter has a Tesla and I am not a fan.

 

I might be interested if the work Toyota are doing on solid state batteries comes to fruition.

 

Ranges of around 700 miles are much more reasonable, and even if you took 200 off for running all the ancillaries in the cold, a 500 mile range is less cause for range anxiety.  The  supposed charging time of under 10 minutes, also gives hope.

 

The 'new' mount is a 4 year old SEAT Ateca.

 

[J. S. Bach]

I, too, just recently acquired an EV:

Mine was about twenty with the tax and shipping.

[Oldddudders]

I do recall Ronald White in Maidstone, long after the trolleys succumbed. I know Barming had a balloon loop to take the trolley back into town, as well as being famous for its lunatic asylum that spawned the adjective 'barmy'. And a friend had a share in a Maidstone trolley in preservation, but it long ago rusted to nothing worthwhile. 

[polybear]

20 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I have an EV, only cost a tenner to buy and nothing to run.

 

Unlikely to catch fire or deprecate in value too.🤪

 

 

When Bear was a mere Cub (and still at school) I worked for a Milkman that worked for Express Dairies; just Saturday & Sundays - we had a lot of fun and I learned things that Momma Bear wouldn't have approved of.

If Milkie thought we weren't knocking for the money (in order to finish earlier - I always knocked though) we'd get "The Rub" - his unshaved chin rubbed up our cheek (face cheek that is - just to avoid any confusion); it was like a B&D Sander and would make your cheek throb for the rest of the day.  More serious digressions and it'd be the dreaded "Double Rub" (= both cheeks).  All good fun.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Having parted company with the BMW earlier today, I've spent some of the afternoon re-acquainting myself with using the indicators, following lane markings, keeping to under the speed restrictions and not having the ghetto blaster on full with the windows down.

 

Peace has now descended on this part of Telfland with our daughter and grandchildren having left to return to the joys of Reading (They got back ok).

 

Of course it's like a commercial laundry here at the moment with sheets and towels etc all getting processed through the washing machine and dryer.

 

This morning, I followed a BMW and an Audi.  Both turned off the main road without signalling at all...

 

I suppose it saves wear and tear on the indicators and improves the residual values!